Hanging by a Moment
by katie mase
Summary: With Camerons touch and go condition, House does everything he can to make sure she lives to solve another case. At the same time however, a 10 year old girl suffers from an unknown disease. A HouseCam story to a degree, but a bit more realistic
1. Chapter 1

Authors Note: This is my first House fanfiction. Yes its House/Cam ship story, but its dosn't revolve around them the entire time, and in my opinon its a little more realistic on how things might go

Disclamer: I do not own any House charecter, although I wish I did

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Chapter One

Dr Gregory House walked in late as usual. Something about clinic duty made him take his time.

"House!" A familiar voice called. He sighed with annoyance and reluctantly turned around.

"Don't you have anything better to do? This is a big hospital, lots of sick people to walk past and ignore." He said his usual sarcastic tone

"You've been putting clinic duty off." Dr. Lisa Cuddy replied ignoring the sarcasm.

"And this concerns me why?" He asked pushing the elevator button repeatedly, in high hopes the doors would open faster.

"This should concern you because," She started but was interupted

"What concerns me is how you allow yourself to wear low-cut shirts," remarked House

"Your behinde by 2 weeks, if you don't get to it I will fire you." She said walking away in a huff

"Hmm, pregnant women and their hormones." He called out

"I'm not pregnant!" She called back as soon as she left the doors slid open

"_When she leaves you open,_" House thought, "Hey there she is!" He said to the doors pointing in the opposite direction with his cane. Seeing no result he walked in continuing on his way.

House pushed open his office door to see Dr. Robert Chase and Dr. Eric Foreman waiting for him. Chase as usual was biting his pencils and Foreman was looking around the room with an expression of annoyance. He probably got sick of waiting for House.

"So what do we got today? Swollen tongues, lupus, rectal bleeding?" House asked sarcastically hoping nothing came up.

"A 10 year old girl came in with seizures." Foreman replied

"Oh no guys what are we gonna do?" House said in a childish tone

Foreman and Chase were clearly not in the mood to tolerate him today.

"Get her an MRI and CAT Scan," He said "Where did she come from?" He asked curiously

"Birthday party at a roller rink." Chase supplied

"Probably epilepsy, forget the big guns, flash lights in her eyes until she starts seizing, next!"

As if the words were magic. Orderlies and nurses rushed by with a patient to the OR. The patient appeared to be a woman in her late 20's early 30's. It appeared she was in a car accident. The three doctors looked at each other all thinking the same thing. The wheels were turning in Houses head.

"Have any of you seen Cameron today?" He said, his voice quivered with fear even though he tried to hide it.

Without waiting for an answer House, Foreman, and Chase jumped out of their seats and rushed as fast as they could to the room they had taken the patient. House dropped his cane in hopes it wouldn't slow him down. The three doctors skidded toward the window as they looked in disbelief at what lay before them.

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**End of chapter one. Sorry if its a little short I'll do my best to make it longer. Please, Please, Please review and tell me what you did or didn't like. Feedback good or bad is much appreciated**


	2. Chapter 2

Authors Note: I'm not in the medical profession, so I have no idea if my termanology is right. So please ignore it, go with it, just don't flame me for it. Leave Reviews Please!

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Chapter 2

Her body was dismantled. Her face was covered in blood. And all he could do was stand there and watch as frantic nurses did everything they could to revive her. It was all slow motion. The next 3 ½ minutes were longest minutes of Houses life.

Cameron's vital signs were low. But her heart was working. Her three colleagues watched stun-stuck by the entire event. Even after all the nurses left, not one of them found the strength to go in.

"We should probably go check on the 10 year old." Foreman said in a monotone voice

One by one they drew their lingering stares away from the glass, and faced forward to their next destination.

"_What should I've done?"_ House thought, "_You couldn't have done anything."_ His own thought conflicted with each other as they reached the little girls room.

"So what do we have here?" House said as he abruptly arrived.

"Jackie, she had a seizure and we were told to come here." Her mother said concerned

"Hum," House mused, "Alright look at the light," He turned his little flashlight on and began to wave it in front of her eyes, "Blah-blah-blah-blah!" He continued to associate noise with the light until he saw no results.

Jackie began to laugh uncontrollably. House stared her down while walking away. Jackie still continued to laugh, until she couldn't breathe. Gasping for breath she began to cough, her heart rate was dropping. Chase rushed over and gave her a tracheotomy. Her coughing subsided but, the near death experience tired her out.

"Interesting," House said in a detective like voice

At the usual whiteboard House inscribed the little girl's symptoms. They were as followed, seizures and respiratory arrest.

"So it looks as if the only thing these have in common is the coach." House said using sports metaphors.

"The brain." Foreman supplied, without hesitation went to reserve the MRI machine.

"Now how does anything get to the brain?" House asked Chase, like he was just a young kid.

"The blood." Chase said

"Well now we know there is more to you than just your hair. Get to it."

Chase walked out of his office, leaving House to help himself to a vicodin.

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**Again I apologize if that was short, I will really try to make it longer. You can be sure there will be more humor and House/Cam moments for all the big shippers out there . Please Review!!!!**


	3. Chapter 3

**Here are those House/Cam moments I promised. I even added clinic patents. **

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Chapter 3

"So let me get this straight," House began "You have ear cleaners, stuck in your nasal cavity."

"Yup." The male patient said in a nasally voice

"And tell me, how did you manage to do that?" House asked amused by the patient's inability to speak with a normal tone.

"Well my wife," The patient started to say, but was interrupted by House

"I'm going to need more detail than that." He added pretending to write on his clipboard

"So what's wrong exactly?" House asked bored out of his mind

"My upper chest area hurts whenever I eat anything really spicy." The female patient said clutching the area she was describing.

House got up and widening his eyes he said "Hmm," checking his clipboard he continued, "That's interesting." He then walked out leaving the stunned patient behind.

He stood at her doorway looking in unsure of whether or not to go. What was it about her that made him care? To see her like this, broken and vulnerable, it broke his heart. Despite what his colleagues thought he cared…to a degree anyway. When it really mattered he cared. He pulled his chair up beside her, resting his chin on his cane. Knowing there was nothing he could do, he waited. Reflecting at the past three years, he thought about how much she tolerated him even though he had irrational and unethical ways. The blood that had devoured her face had been wiped clean and all that remained were the scars that bore what happened. Hesitantly he reached out to touch her hand.

Suddenly she began to stir. He pulled away awkwardly hoping she hadn't seen him. She tried to sit up but House stopped her.

"Lay back down," He sighed, "You're not in any condition to sit."

This, for the most part, was true. Although she was quite capable of sitting, He didn't want her to stress out from what she would see. Her body had taken a beating from the wreck. Surgeons had to remove large pieces of glass from the windshield out of her leg. Pressure had built up in her skull, which was released by a drill. The last thing she needed was the gravity of the accident.

"What, what happened?" She asked almost out of breath

He stood up and began to pace in front of her bed. "You were in an accident, on your way to work." He told her bluntly. He didn't see how he could say it any other way.

"My God." She gasped

"I thought you didn't believe in God." He said jokingly

She smirked. It was about all she could do, her face was swollen to the point where her eyes could barley open. House sat back down beside her.

"House what's going on with me?" she whispered, her fingers adjacent with his.

He sighed, unable to answer exactly. Her prognosis was grim. Her brain was still swelling, and her chance of infection was still high. Her survival rate was yet to be determined. Cameron then dipped back into unconsciousness.

"Cameron," He said loudly not wanting to upset her stress level.

"House! How could you just leave a patient without a," Cuddy stopped and looked in at him. She had never seen him so distressed before. Even more so than when Foreman was sick. "Diagnosis." She finished

He rolled his eyes and turned around to face her, "Yeah about that, you'll never believe," House started

"I don't want your excuses, I want you to get back to your case and let Dr. Cameron recover." Cuddy said sympathetically.

"Yes ma'am." He replied in childish tone

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**So its a little longer than the first two chapters yay! The next chapter is in its early stages so it might be a couple days before I update. But I hope to see plenty of reviews when I do.**


	4. Chapter 4

Authors Note: This chapter contains medical information, I have no experience in the medical field so I do not know how accurate this will be.

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Chapter 4

Dr. James Wilson walked into the staff room for a delicious chicken salad sandwich he had made the night before, only to find House devouring it like a ravage animal.

"You know I must have dyslexia because I could have sworn I wrote Wilson on the bag, not Ass."

"It's just a sandwich." House said with his mouth full

"But I made it, for me to eat." Wilson replied with annoyance

"I would make you another, but there's no way in hell it would be as good as this." He said taking another obscenely bite

"I think we need to talk." Wilson began

"It's just a sandwich!" House exclaimed

"No, I mean about Dr. Cameron."

"What about her? She was in an accident. What do we need to talk about?" House said taking out his game boy.

"Cuddy said."

"And since when do you listen to Cuddy?" House said frustrated. He didn't feel there was anything to discuss.

"She'll be fine, you know that right?" Wilson asked empathetically

House sighed, he wasn't sure anymore.

The team was in Houses office pondering the case. Foreman and Chase were discussing possible causes.

"Maybe it's a tumor?" Chase said

"Or a virus, bacteria possibly." Foreman added

"Luke no! She's crazy! Utterly crazy!" House cried. He was of course watching his favorite soap on his small T.V. Foreman and Chase stared at him unable of what to make of it. "I don't _need_ to watch this show, I do because I like to. Don't judge me!" House exclaimed

"Wouldn't dream of it." Foreman said

"So what do we got?" House asked

"Um, no diagnosis if that's what you're asking." Chase said cautiously

Suddenly all their beepers went off. They ran to room 112, where Jackie was staying.

"She can't move her leg!" Her mother sobbed. Her fever was rising.

"We have to cool her down!" Chase said

"Oh my God." Her father whispered

Several minutes later after much commotion, they had cooled her down to about 99 degrees.

"It's got to be an infection, or bacteria." Foreman said

"Get her back in MRI, Chase take a blood sample and check for everything," House said

Once again standing in the same doorway looking in. Her face looked better, just like it used to. The sun was setting, and she was facing the window. House hobbled over and shut the shades.

"Thank you." She said quietly

"I thought you were sleeping." He said turning towards her

"Just resting, I heard you have a case." She said

"Yeah," he pulled a chair up towards her bed "Feeling better I see."

"I've been better, but yeah, what's the case about?"

"_Why is she so interested in the case? It's just like her to care about someone she doesn't know. And care more for the people she does."_ He thought, "A little girl, experiencing seizures, respiratory arrest and paralysis." He explained

"Poor kid." Cameron said quietly. It appeared she was feeling guilty for being in an accident. Unable to help the poor girl. She felt she was in fact useless. House could see it in her eyes. Her eyes could tell a story by themselves. He reached out and grabbed her hand. "Just get better." He told her

They shared a smile and Houses beeper went off.

"Damn it." He said under his breath, it was Forman. He let go of her hand and walked to the door. "I'll come by tomorrow."

"Alright, I'll see you tomorrow." She said

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**Well that didn't take as long as I thought it was going to. The chapter is a little short, I intend to make them longer but alas it dosn't seem to work. Please Read and Review!**


	5. Chapter 5

**I just want to thank my loyal readers, you know who you are, for your reviews and additons to your alerts and favorites lists. They make me smile **

**I'd also like to take this time to mention I had my 1000 view yesterday! yay!**

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Chapter 5

"What is she doing here?" House said

"Well you were taking too long so we called Cuddy."

They were standing in Jackie's room, her parents anxiously awaiting the results of the numerous tests they made her take. Jackie had sleeping from the meds they gave her. For the moment she was away from her illness, the world. However House's sudden outburst had awakened her from her slumber.

"She's the wicked witch of the North West; she may look sweet and nice on the outside, but on the inside, yesh." House whispered to Jackie

"House!" Cuddy called

Guiltily House backed away from Jackie and stood next to his team.

"There is an atypical growth located on your daughter's brain. We'd like to do a biopsy to rule out any cancerous activity." Cuddy explained

Her parent's expressions were full of worry and distress at the sounds of cancer. Jackie too began to shed tears. Cuddy felt for the parents. She too would one day hope to be a mom. She herself can not even imagine the agony that goes through a parents mind when they find out their only child has a deadly disease.

"It's not cancer" House whispered loudly enough for her to hear

"In any case," She continued, "Our head of oncology will be performing the surgery,"

"Hey pssst! Its not cancer!" House whispered again

Cuddy turned and shot House a look of death. "Any way it is a dangerous surgery and risks are involved, and like Dr. House said it may not even be cancer. But we'd like to do the surgery just to be sure. The procedure will be as followed."

But House didn't stay to listen to the rest of it. Instead he took a little visit to the oncologist office.

"Don't do it!" House said charging into Wilson's office

Wilson looked up from the sandwich he had been making. "I will stop the sandwich production."

"No the surgery she doesn't have cancer." House said exasperated

"And you know this because you secretly are an oncologist too, gee you surprise me everyday." Wilson said sarcastically

"It won't be cancer." House said once again

"Fine, it won't be and once again you'll be right. How's Cameron doing by the way?"

"She seems better. Why?" House said suspiciously

"Well the swelling in her brain hasn't been getting any better, nor worse," Wilson reassured House, "But their going to have relive the pressure."

"Brain surgery, does she know?" He asked with a hint of concern in his voice

"You seem really worried about her, has she filled the big empty space in your heart?" he said in a mocking tone

"I don't know which space your talking about." He said as he was leaving

"The space where you actually care about someone. It starts out small, in your case smaller that usual, but grows with time. The space where you have the uncontrollable need to make sure their alright and safe. Feels good, doesn't it?" Wilson asked with a wide grin.

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**Well I think I might just be half way done, not quite sure yet. I'll do my best to drag it on as long as I can. I plan on having a chapter full of clinic patients (and yes an increadibly special House/Cam moment ;). But I want you guys to suggest patient ideas to me. And I'd like to see more reviews! So tell your friends and spread the news, I need you to read, suggest, and review!**


	6. Message from Katie Mase

Message from Me!

Hey loyal readers, I just thought I'd let you know where I am as far as the story goes. I honestly don't know how much longer I can drag the story on. I do have the ending written out, and I'm going to do everything I can to make that the 11th or 12th chapter. I'm quickly running out of ideas but I did manage to come up with one. But sadly there is a draw back; I have no ideas for my idea. So this is where audience participation takes a key role. I need help coming up with clinic patients. Yes that is the major focus of my next chapter. It can be anything from a common cold, to a drug addict. But I'm going to need at least 8 or 9 ideas in order to keep it long. So I'll pick the first 8 that appeal to me or the only 8 seeing as how I only average about 3 reviews per chapter. But thanks in advance to those who help me move this story along!


	7. Chapter 7

**Sorry for the long update, things at home and my writers block kept me from updating. Forgive me second patient's condition (explaniation at the bottom so I don't spoil it for you ) And I apologize for it being kinda short, and I don't think I used everyones clinic patient idea. I just wanted to get it up so you didn't lose interest.**

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Chapter 6

House walked into exam room one, popping a vicodin into his mouth. The first patient appeared to be a little boy of three, with his mother at his side. "So what seems to be the trouble?" House asked sarcastically. It was pretty obvious he didn't want to be there.

"He's running a fever and he's scratching himself, everywhere." She said sounding concerned

House examined the boy's body discovering red dots. "I'm sorry to tell you but your son may not be here too much longer."

"What!" His mother exclaimed "He's going, going to."

"He's going to go home and get over the chicken pox." House said calmly

The boys mother said nothing and shot House the dirtiest look. Calmly she got up but slammed the door behind her.

The next patient to be in was covered in the most repulsive rash. She was about seventeen covered in baby phat clothing.

"When did the rash appear?" House asked curiously

"Um, uh, Monday." She said in a hazy voice

"Today's Monday." House told her

"Oh, ha, wow." She replied

He could tell right off she had been smoking something, but what he couldn't guess. "When's the last time you went to a pizza shop?"

"What, I don't go to pizza, oh um a couple days ago I think. Yup 'cause that was the night of the big party." She replied grinning, obviously because of good times.

"Your rash is from an alergic reaction to oregano. Did you handle any herbs at all?" He asked, although she probably couldn't tell the difference between pot, and herbs.

"Just some pot in a bag." She replied

"I'm sorry to tell you, but pot wasnt in that bag." He said almost laughing. He handed her calamine lotion and sent her off.

"Well my head hurts a lot if I look at anything. I tried taking Motrin but it didn't work." A male patient of 23 said.

House examined his reflexes, and eyes. "Read this while I ask you a few questions."

The patient took the paper and began to read it.

His first question was. "Do you have girlfriend?"

"Uh, yeah." He replied

"Is she a new girlfriend?"

"No, we've been dating for months."

"Did you guys break up recently?"

"Nope."

"Are you sexually active?" House asked leaning in

"Is this necessary?" He asked unsure

"Of course."

"Yes…wait! I have an STD! But she's been my only partner, which means…oh my God!"

"Relax, you need glasses." House said handing him a referral to an eye doctor.

A six year old girl walked in picking at her ear. Her mother lifted her onto the table and proceeded to tell what was wrong. "She put a popcorn kernel in her ear, I got the first one out, but I can't manage to get this one out."

House rubbed his temples, and then took out a pair of tweezers. "Why in the world did you stick a popcorn kernel in your ear?" He asked

"Mommy was yelling, and I was trying to take a nap." She replied in a small voice

House pulled out the kernel and asked one more question, "She was yelling at you?"

"No, daddy."

"Okay, thank you Doctor House." Her mother said as she picked her daughter up and carried her off.

"Next time have the decency to make sure she's asleep."

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**Explaination: This happened to someone I know and I couldnt remember if it was oregano or not. She was high to begin with so her judgement was impaired severely. **

**Please read and review, and I figured out I will probably only have 9 or 10 chapters. **


	8. Chapter 8

**First off I want to apologize for the long long wait. School and drama got in the way. And second I want to apologize for it being incredibly short. But this is more of a set up chapter. Its going to help move us along. I decided on two more chapters and trust me the next one will be alot longer I promise. So read and review!**

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Chapter 7

House began to head towards the OR where Cameron's surgery was taking place. "_I just want to make sure they don't screw up._" He told himself

But it was inevitable, we was worried. More than worried…scared. He hasn't felt truly scared in a long time; he almost forgot what it felt like. Popping vicodin in like they were tic-tacs he headed into the overhead area where interns could take notes on surgeries. For the most part everything seemed alright. They were removing bits of skull fragments to relive pressure. One nervous intern looked up at House. He was jittery and had focused intently on House's vicodin.

"What are you looking at? I'm not supplying your next fix." He said rather loudly. Many eyes had turned; their gazes pierced the young man. He scribbled something on his clipboard and soon everyone turned away.

Then all of a sudden something had gone terribly wrong, her bmp suddenly began to drop. "We need fix the damaged vessel. Damn why didn't we see it before?" the surgeon said calmly.

"_See it before?"_ The wheels were turning in Houses head as he ran out of the OR and off the Oncologist.

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**Like I said before I'm sorry its so short, but I wanted a cliff hanger and if I made it longer it probably would have been boring and unessacary(cant spell that word to save my life) R&R!**


	9. Chapter 9

**Ok medical terms are in here and once again I don't know what I'm talking about when it comes to this. See below for further explination. Don't wanna ruin it for you :)**

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Chapter 7

When he arrived he saw Wilson working hard to find what wasn't there. He too wondered why he cared about patients so much, even those who weren't his.

"You're not going to find any cancer." House remarked

"And your never going to make me lunch, but maybe by some miracle it could happen." Wilson replied

"I'm just saying you're wasting your time. I'm only trying to help save it."

"My hero." Wilson sarcastically remarked

"Your going to find a legion of some sorts, concealing whatever mass might be there."

"Uh huh." Wilson sighed

House took out his game and began level five on classic Mario Brothers.

"You're still worried huh?" Wilson asked not looking up from the microscope.

"Not worried…just concerned."

"Well if you ever need a shoulder to cry on." Wilson said

"Oh gee, that'd be just swell." House replied sarcastically

"Just trying to be there for you."

"Well don't be."

"Oh no." Wilson said

"Oh no what?" House replied getting up. He looked into the microscope and saw what Wilson was talking about. "Damn it."

"Your daughter has a legion within her brain stem. It's the start of Brain Stem Glioma. As of now they aren't cancer cells, but as time progresses they will be much worse. This disease is most common in children 5-10. If we start her on a treatment now, we could prevent the spreading. But if it becomes cancer, chances of survival are slim. I'm so sorry." Wilson explained to grieving family.

"Oh God," Her father responded clearly overwhelmed by the devastating news.

"Thank you for telling us." Her mother whispered.

"You tell them their light and strength that keeps them together is dying and you still get a thank you." House told Wilson.

"When will you get it?" He asked rhetorically

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**The disease is real, the occurence is real as well. Once again read and review!**


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